Thursday 12 March 2009 08.47 EDT
First published on Thursday 12 March 2009 08.47 EDT

The disgraced financier Bernard Madoff was led to jail in handcuffs today after pleading guilty in a New York court to all 11 charges against him in the biggest fraud in Wall Street history.

In a 10-minute statement to the court, the former Nasdaq stock exchange chairman apologised for his role in the Ponzi scheme, and said he was "deeply sorry and ashamed for my crimes". Saying he was "painfully aware that I have deeply hurt many many people", Madoff described a long-running scheme that he knew from the beginning was "criminal and wrong" but hoped would end shortly.

"I cannot adequately express how sorry I am for what I have done," he told the lower Manhattan courtroom, in which a large number of his victims were present and invited to speak.

He said that as he become more deeply engaged in the fraud, "I realised that my arrest and this day would inevitably come".

Madoff, who stood to the left of his lawyer, admitted to securities fraud, investment adviser fraud, mail fraud, wire fraud, three counts of money laundering, false statements, perjury, false filings with the US Securities and Exchange Commission and theft from an employee benefit plan.

His victims include the actors Kevin Bacon and Zsa Zsa Gabor as well as institutional investors such as HSBC, Royal Bank of Scotland and Nicola Horlick's Bramdean Investments, and a number of Jewish charities and small investors, some of whom have lost everything. Foundations attached to the film director Stephen Spielberg and the Holocaust survivor Elie Wiesel are among those who lost money.

The 70-year old is likely to spend the rest of his life in prison, with prosecutors pushing for him to be jailed immediately. But first he will have to hear himself denounced by a string of investors. Victims' statements are heard at the time of sentencing and the judge has said that he will allow further representations to be made at that time.

Madoff was accused of running an audacious Ponzi scheme, luring investors with the promise of great returns while actually using the cash they invested to pay returns to existing investors. He is also accused of siphoning off funds for his own enrichment.

Documents released on Tuesday estimated the combined worth reflected on client statements at $64.8bn (£47bn), even higher than the initial estimate of $50bn. Harry Markopolos, a Massachusetts financial analyst who discovered Madoff's fraud eight years ago but whose warnings to regulators fell on deaf ears, has estimated that Madoff took in between $15bn and $25bn in clients' cash.

The prosecution is expected to call for his $10m bail to be revoked. Since he was arrested on 11 December, he has been held under house arrest in his luxury Manhattan apartment.

"The charges reflect an extraordinary array of crimes committed by Bernard Madoff for over 20 years," said the acting US attorney Lev Dassin. "While the alleged crimes are not novel, the size and scope of Mr Madoff's fraud are unprecedented."